GSP: 'I want to fight Nick Diaz'

Even though Georges St-Pierre doesn't like Nick Diaz, he wants him to beat Carlos Condit at UFC 143 and win the UFC interim welterweight title.

In a recent interview, the UFC's current welterweight champion said that he is recovering well from knee surgery and is looking forward to returning to action.

"The reason I wish Nick Diaz to win that fight is because I want to fight Nick Diaz," GSP told Inside MMA. "I don't want to fight Carlos Condit; I want to fight Nick Diaz, but in another way I just hope the best man wins. But if the best man is Nick Diaz I will appreciate it more because there will be a better buildup for the fight."

St-Pierre and Diaz were scheduled to meet at UFC 137 in October, but the bout was cancelled because Diaz skipped out on several media obligations. The UFC then scheduled a bout between GSP and Condit, but a knee injury forced St-Pierre to pull out of that fight. Diaz ended up fighting BJ Penn at UFC 137 and winning a unanimous decision. The UFC scheduled an interim title bout between Diaz and Condit, which will headline UFC 143 on Feb. 4, and GSP will fight the winner of that bout when he is healthy enough to return.

The 30-year-old said he would prefer to fight Diaz because he has no ill-will towards Condit.

"Carlos Condit is a very nice guy," St-Pierre said. "I've never trained with him, but I train in Albuquerque along with some of his teammates, and he's a very nice guy, I like him a lot … Even though I like Carlos Condit better as a person, I would rather fight Nick Diaz."

St-Pierre last fought in April -- when he defeated Diaz's training partner Jake Shields by unanimous decision in front of over 55,000 fans at UFC 129 in Toronto -- but is not rushing his return since that is how he injured his knee in the first place.

"One of the reasons I got that injury was I didn't listen to myself," St-Pierre said. "I had a first injury to my left knee and I tried to come back too fast and I was compensating with my other leg, that's how I hurt myself."

St-Pierre said he should be back to hard training by July and in an ideal situation he will be back fighting inside the Octagon by November.

"That's why I'm staying in (Los Angeles). I had my surgery (in L.A.) and I'm doing my rehab here with the best people to make sure I come back 110 per cent," GSP added.

Following Diaz's win over Penn, he called out GSP and accused him of faking his injury. The Canadian says that is just added motivation he can use if and when the two meet up.

"I'm at my best when I have pressure on my shoulders; I'm at my best when someone is picking on me," St-Pierre said. "He's going to go there to win, not to survive, and he's going to be very hard to break down mentally and I'm ready for a war."